Commentary

Details of JOHN BILDERBECK

Born: 1809

Died: 1880

Source: SPG Missionary (Rev Frank Perry, The Church In Madras 1904)

Biography: JOHN BILDERBECK was born in 1809 at Madras. He was one of the sons of Christopher Bilderbeck, a Eurasian merchant, whose sister married the wealthy Madras merchant, John De Monte His father died in 1817, leaving a young family, one of them being John himself. John De Monte, the rich uncle, died in 1821, leaving all his property to the Portuguese mission at St. Thome. The Bilderbeck family appears then to have severed themselves from the Roman Catholic Church and connected themselves with the London Missionary Society. John was educated at the L.M.S. School in Black Town, and then sent to England, and was trained at Homerton as a Missionary. He returned to India, in 1831, and worked at Chittoor and Wallahjabad till 1841, when he severed his con nection with the L.M.S. Influenced by Bishop Spencer, he was ordained deacon in 1842, and priest in 1843, and returned to his work at Chittoor under the S.P.G. Here he remained till 1845, when he returned to England and transferred his services to the C.M.S. (see C.M.S. list). He died at Madras in 1880, after nearly fifty years work in the mission field.